Re: EWSB 2002 or 2003?

Originally Posted by Flyfish

My wife and I did a blind tasting of these vintages. I preferred the '00 but she liked the '03. With that said, there was a clear family resemblance and repeating the tasting might easily produce different results. The maginal difference between "this is pretty good" and "this is damn good" is hard to quantify.

If you don't mind me asking, were you able to find the 2003 in Toledo? I had been looking, but was never able to find any.

Re: EWSB 2002 or 2003?

Looks like the consensus is 2003 was a bit better. Thanks all, probably going to pick it up today for my Friday treat.

And MauiSon, understood, I knew that the recipe/method wasn't changed, but I assumed different years the weather affects the grains and such. Allowing for the difference between single barrel and "small batch", is there any more variation between a different vintage EWSB than say between a few EC12 bottles (to keep discussion within same distiller)? The EC12 has a profile they're looking to build and keep somewhat consistent between bottling but to my taste they've got a wide path and I've had bottles of it that felt more like cousins than siblings.

Re: EWSB 2002 or 2003?

Originally Posted by ramblinman

Looks like the consensus is 2003 was a bit better. Thanks all, probably going to pick it up today for my Friday treat.

And MauiSon, understood, I knew that the recipe/method wasn't changed, but I assumed different years the weather affects the grains and such. Allowing for the difference between single barrel and "small batch", is there any more variation between a different vintage EWSB than say between a few EC12 bottles (to keep discussion within same distiller)? The EC12 has a profile they're looking to build and keep somewhat consistent between bottling but to my taste they've got a wide path and I've had bottles of it that felt more like cousins than siblings.

I think you'll find a lot of similar opinions on EC12 varying from bottle to bottle. There was some discussion regarding this a year or two ago.

Re: EWSB 2002 or 2003?

Seems like the majority here prefer the 2003 EWSB over the 2002. I know the 2000 vintage is the "Holy Grail" of EWSB but does anyone have any thoughts about the 2001 vintage especially in comparison to the 2003?

Re: EWSB 2002 or 2003?

Our barrel team picked an '02 that was (is) very good. A few weeks ago we were back in the rick house and picked an '03 that was excellent out of the barrel. It has not come in yet and it will be interesting to try them side by side. EWSB continues to climb up the ladder for me. On a shelf with about 100 quality bottles it's overlooked too often. HH makes darn good bourbon IMO .. Bernheim being the exception.

Re: EWSB 2002 or 2003?

I just found in the last few months the following EWSBs - 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002. No 2003 on the shelves in RI yet that I've seen. The 1997 and 2000 I just got on Friday and there were 2 bottles of 2000 left, though given consensus here I'll be going back for those 2000s. I haven't cracked any of them open yet because I want to know a bit of what to expect and because I might be do a vertical tasting. (and because I already have too many open bottles). Among the EWSB cognoscenti how do those vintages compare?